


Mr Cellophane

by GwenChan



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers, The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Crossover, Gen, Sorry Not Sorry, Statement, Statement Fic, The Lonely - Freeform, no beta we die like men, this is super indulgent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-10
Updated: 2020-02-10
Packaged: 2021-02-28 00:21:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22654648
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GwenChan/pseuds/GwenChan
Summary: Statement of Matthew Williams, regarding his acquaintance with the Lonely.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 23





	Mr Cellophane

CANADA

Hello? Excuse me? Is there anyone? I’m here to give a statement. I’m looking for a certain Mr Sims.

ARCHIVIST

Oh, I didn’t quite see you there. That would be me. Please, take a seat. Has anyone explained to you how it works?

CANADA

What? Oh, yes. I have just to tell you my story, right?

ARCHIVIST

Precisely. What would your story be about?

CANADA

It’s about me and, well, how to explain it? It's that no matter what I do or where I go, people will always forget and ignore me. 

ARCHIVIST

Alright then. Your name would be?

CANADA

Williams. Matthew Williams, sir.

ARCHIVIST

Right. Statement of Matthew Williams, regarding his experience with isolation and inability of making on impression  
Original statement given June 30th, 2018. Audio recording by the Archivist.  
Statement taken directly from subject

  
CANADA (STATEMENT)

I have a brother. I know it may sound unrelated, but I think we should start from that. A twin brother one may say. Well, things are actually more complicated. We have the same mother, but different fathers. Still, they are sort of very distant cousins and then genetics did the trick. 

Do you have a twin? No, I suppose not. I can see it in your eyes, no sudden recognition of what it is to have a perfect copy of yourself being a different person. Spending your life with people mistaking your for someone else - it never passes, does it? Or contrary, playing with people, making them go mad by continuously switching places with your twin siblings, until not even your own mother can tell you apart.

I do not remember well my mother. She was affectionate, but always quite distant. Sorry, I am digressing.

Yes, switching places. I never really liked that game. People had always been immediately prone to mistake me for my brother, even without me making their job easier. Sometimes I hate him for this. I’d like to say he has no fault in this, but that would be lying. Well, one could say he cannot help himself, though an effort at being — less flashy would be greatly appreciated. 

I have bruises from the times his rivals mistaken me for him. 

Are you recording this? 

ARCHIVIST

Yes. It’s quite the normal procedure here. I suppose I can take old notes if you are uncomfortable …

CANADA

No, it is just that I do not trust myself in making a durable impression on the memory. Even now, I have the feeling you aren’t quite looking at me, that I’m talking to myself. 

I will check the recording before leaving. My step-father trusts you, he said you can understand, but I still would prefer to not have wasted these last two days. Coming all the way from Canada can be a bit bothersome even in these days.

ARCHIVIST

It would be unorthodox, but I believe it can be arranged

CANADA

That would be mostly helpful. So, this is it. I do not really stand out. There are moments in which it is a blessing. More often than not, it’s just disappointing. Contrary to what the majority of my acquaintances believe, I do not enjoy being invisible. It had come in handy, though, a couple of times in dire situations.  
Usually, it is just an added difficulty to perform my job.

I am afraid I can't disclosure much about it. It's politics, it runs in the family. Numerous meetings, where being the invisible one usually ends with an idea you would have objected being approved all the same

It has always been like this. As a kid, I was often alone. My mother has always been a free spirit, traveling all around the country for weeks, while I was too small to follow her. As for my father, well, his home country was across the ocean and job never allowed him to spend lot of time abroad. I remember to have loved deeply the times of his visits, all body almost vibrating in excitement, in wait.  
It never made the separation any less painful. 

When I was I believe around five, my father went from being a relatively rich man, with enough money to indulge in luxuries one doesn’t need to survive, to a deep financial crisis. He could barely visit me anymore, let alone care for me – (more than he could have already done). 

My mother had her own battles to fight to care about my growth. As for me, I was too little to understand the deals around my persona, the papers and discussion that ended with my father handing me to someone else, an half-grimace on his face, saying that new person would care for me from that time one.

I believe one can say I was sold, in the end.

It turned out better than expected and at the same time worse. My step-father was less terrible than what I had envisioned at first and passed the first period of adjustment, I quite liked it. That was when I met my brother for the first time.

I knew immediately I could not compete with him. I remember it clearly, the days when we were all together, still children in gowns. You could see it in my step-father’s eyes and gestures, how much he doted on my brother, the fact he would’ve given him the sun, moon and stars. 

He mistakes me for my brother sometimes still to these days. 

Thinking about it, my new family all made my condition more evident. 

My brother was – is, actually – loud. Absolutely loud. He pops out to attention. He wants and demands it. It was clear from the beginning I could not compete. Again, I cannot point out exactly what it started, but as years went by, the scene repeated over and over. You are speaking to me? You will probably faze out before I can finish my tell. I am in a room? Chances you won’t notice me. You see my by some lucky chance? I bet you won’t remember the instant I walk away. Even if I’m standing right before you, here, I suppose your gaze would traverse me. 

It’s strange you haven’t asked me yet who am I. People do that. They do that often, friends and family included. 

Curiously, my brother, despite all the problems he caused me, remembers me. And, don't get me wrong. I like him. He's family after all.   
He’s one of the few. My father does, too, but mostly to remind everyone of what good in physical appearance I’ve taken from him. It’s not I don’t have friends. I have actually some. They just need some more time to remind themselves of who am I.

Now I’m afraid I must go. My plane leaves in two hours and I believe you know how intercontinental fights are. I would really like to avoid miss my flight. Tomorrow is my birthday after all, I want to celebrate it at home. I invited some friends, too. I invited several people, actually. I don’t think they’ll come, tough. They are all busy and in four days will be my brother birthday.  
And they never miss it.

  
ARCHIVIST

Alright. Then, have a good flight, I suppose. Do you want to check the statement? Wait, where did he go? Well, he wasn’t lying when he said he doesn’t stand out. I myself had quite an hard time keeping focused. He didn’t even check the recording. Wait, did it actually recorded anything? I'd better check.  
Yes, the audio is fable, but it's there.

Well, not much to say. It’s clearly a work of the Lonely, if I’ve ever seen one. It is strange, though, the Lukas family never got mentioned. As servants of the Power, I would believe their name to appear at least once. I must admit, however, there are yet several statements to examine and it is thus all possible the Lonely acts outside of the Lukases boundaries.   
I will try to talk with Peter about this matter, hoping he is in the mood to answer. I still don’t know how much my abilities work on him.

One last thing. Matthew Williams. I trust to have already heard the name. I will ask Basira to dig a bit.

Statement ends.

**Author's Note:**

> One, I wanted to have fun with some crossover. Please don't make me have to moderate comments. I just love both works and Canada immediately popped to mind when it came to the Lonely.  
> Two, I'm writing this for a challenge and I didn't have the time to check the consistency and chronology of TMA, so I guessed the date after which Jonhatan would already know about the Entities, but I'm not sure.   
> It didn't matter actually, though.


End file.
